The Pied Piper of Hamelin

08Mar

In the year 1284, a mysterious man appeared in Hamelin. He was wearing a coat of many colored, bright cloth, for which reason he was called the Pied Piper. He claimed to be a rat cathcer and he promised for a certain sum that he would rid the city of all mice and rats. The citizens strucks a deal, promising him a certain price. The rat cathcer then took a small fife from his pocket and began to blow on it. Rats and mice immediately came from every house and gathered around him. When he thought that he had them all he led them to the River Weser where he pulled up his clothes and walked into the water. The animals followed him, fell in, and drowned.

Now that the citizens had been freed of their plague, they regretted having promised so much money. Using all kinds of excuses, they refused to pay him. Finally, he went away, bitter, and angry. He returned on June 26 morning, now dressed in a hunter’s custome, with a dreadful look on his face and wearing a strange red hat. He sounded his fife in the streets, but this time it wasn’t rats and mice that came to him, but rather children: a great number of boys and girls from their fourth year on. Among them was the mayor’s grown daughter. The swarm followed him and he led them into a mountain where he disappeared with them.

All this was seen by a babysitter who, carrying a child in her arms, had followed them from a distance, but had then turned around and carried the news back to the town. The anxious parents ran in droves to the town gates seeking their children. The mothers cried out and sobbed pitifully. Within, hours, messengers were sent everywhere by water and by land inquiring if the children – or any of them – had been seen, but it was all for naught.